Greenpeace, the Yes Men and the inside story of #ShellFail

Last Thursday somebody on Youtube called "kstr3l" posted a video from his phone of a Shell PR event gone horribly, hilariously wrong. By Friday afternoon it had already been watched 500,000 times, and was making the rounds with the tag #ShellFAIL. Then journalists who had covered the story received a threatening email to cut it out, calling the whole thing an environmental activist hoax and directing people to a website about the company's arctic oil drilling plans.

The event was a hoax, and so was the follow-up email and the website with its often hilarious-if-it-wasn't-true fake Shell marketing copy. From the ArcticReady.com homepage: "That's why we at Shell are committed to not only recognize the challenges that climate change brings, but to take advantage of its tremendous opportunities. And what's the biggest opportunity we've got today? The melting Arctic."

This is the backstory.

With help from the Yes Lab we built a special Arctic Ready website for Shell, which houses our new advertisements, plus a tool for you to create your own. Take a moment to choose a picture and add your own message – there are some great ones up already. We’ve even built a charming kids’ game – Angry Bergs – to keep the littl’uns happy. Watch the dollars flood in as you protect your oil platform from those pesky natural hazards. Unsinkable.

But the centerpiece of the campaign was a gala event we created to give Shell’s drilling rigs (which are currently docked in Seattle) the send off they deserved. We hired the Skyline room at the Space Needle, invited a host of local energy leaders, and brought in a large team of actors. The piece de resistance was a beautiful ice sculpture which rested in a bath of cola next to a scale model of the Kulluk drill rig.

But something went horribly, hilariously wrong. As our guest of honor turned on the spigot to get the black gold flowing, there was an uncontrolled blowout. Sadly, in such a remote setting no one had the right equipment to deal with it. The elderly lady who caught the spurt full in the face was supposedly the widow of the rig’s original designer – but it was actually 84 year old Occupy activist Dorli Rainey who was pepper sprayed last year. Shell’s harried reps did their best to contain the unfolding PR disaster, but alas the footage somehow got out. The resulting video has been viewed over half a million times already, generated a dubstep remix and sparked an entirely new brand: #shellfail

Serves them right I can't believe that those, destroying our world stand there in suits with champane, while we Greenpeace activists who try to SA...

Serves them right I can't believe that those, destroying our world stand there in suits with champane, while we Greenpeace activists who try to SAVE the world are working all around the world day after day. What a blessing that this video was made public.

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(Unregistered) let's go
says:

@ Greenpeace

I've a problem with the arcticready website. When I try to create my own Let's go Arctic ad, I can not select an ima...

@ Greenpeace

I've a problem with the arcticready website. When I try to create my own Let's go Arctic ad, I can not select an image. I do not know if the problem comes from my computer or from the website. (I use Internet Explorer).
thanks

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(Unregistered) violeti
says:

Is there any indication on the arcticready website that Greenpeace is responsible for it, and not Shell? I do not support Shell, but the fact that Gre...

Is there any indication on the arcticready website that Greenpeace is responsible for it, and not Shell? I do not support Shell, but the fact that Greenpeace doesn't have any sort of signature on arcticready turns it from a satire into a lie, which undermines the effectiveness of the site and has made me (and others) lose respect for Greenpeace. Deciding to not take the moral high road has left us disappointed in you as an organization.

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(Unregistered) gary-w
says:

There goes my trust in yet another organisation that claims to speak the direct, honest truth. There are plenty of genuinely awful things being done t...

There goes my trust in yet another organisation that claims to speak the direct, honest truth. There are plenty of genuinely awful things being done to the planet right now that deserve credulous, unhampered attention. Why would you distract from that with a campaign that undermines your own credibility? What a waste.

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(Unregistered) witheld
says:

I agree that not being up front about this campaign being a Greenpeace campaign is the same charge put to the oil companies. Working for one (which I&...

I agree that not being up front about this campaign being a Greenpeace campaign is the same charge put to the oil companies. Working for one (which I'm guessing will mean you will disregard my point of view) I find the vilification of us on this issue fairly harsh. I don't see evidence that Shell has done something wrong, only that you don't agree. Why not do a false US government site? Or why not just run the world your way?? Oh no wait - that's dictatership...the fact that there is difference of views, but a fair process to get there is what our developed world should be about....a rant now I now...but I feel that you pick on oil workers as easy targets....

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Tony O'Leary
says:

This makes me lose faith in Greenpeace as an organisation. Was this approved or is it a solo run? The twitter account and it's messages goes makes...

This makes me lose faith in Greenpeace as an organisation. Was this approved or is it a solo run? The twitter account and it's messages goes makes me not believe anything Greenpeace tells me any more. Also there is no indication on the website that Greenpeace is responsible, in other words Greenpeace are lying and in my opinion, even though I am no fan of Shell they should sue you.